Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Secret Movie Club: Movie #4 and 5


Another Secret Movie Club update! I am going to talk about the fourth and fifth movies to be selected as part of this movie club. These two movie were very different from each other. I have loved how each movie has differed in genre and that there has been some diversity in their choices.

The fourth selection was The Mauritanian. A movie about Mohamedou Ould Slahi and his detention at Guantanamo Bay. It is based off his memoir and offers a starling look at his experience.

This is a fairly paint by numbers version of this genre. It was nothing groundbreaking or original but not a bad movie either. The material is raised by Tahar Rahim's incredible performance. He stands out amongst a powerhouse cast. The details of the things done to Mohamedou Ould Slahi are certainly eye opening and are pretty horrific. They are made all the more vivid by Tahar Rahim's performance. 

I did not know much about this before watching the movie and it was certainly thought provoking  and a movie that is worthy of discussion.

You can check out this movie in theatres and via Premium Video On Demand.

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The fourth movie selection was My Salinger Year. Adapted from Joanna Rakoff’s memoir that is a coming of age story about being a young twenty something, and working for a publishing house.

The appreciated the publishing house elements and the Salinger of it all but had a harder time connecting to the more personal elements of Joanna Rakoff’s journey. I did not connect with the romance, or other elements that were supposed to make the main character more relatable. It felt like a distraction from the other parts of the movie. It made this just an okay movie for me and I found it dragged in some parts.

It is definitely a love letter to books and writing and I think fans of Salinger (and The Catcher in the Rye in particular) will enjoy it.

You can check out My Salinger Year  in theatres and via Premium Video On Demand.

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